The trial of a Bronx NYPD captain accused of helping an off-duty detective avoid DWI charges is underway, with a Japanese-American advocacy group throwing its full support behind the 14-year veteran.

The Bronx District Attorney’s office charges that Capt. Naoki Yaguchi delayed a Breathalyzer test for off-duty Detective Efrain Medina after he was involved in a two-car crash on Fordham Road April 22, 2017. Medina said he had a glass of wine two hours earlier, sources said at the time.

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Yaguchi surrendered to authorities in February 2018, and was indicted by a grand jury for official misconduct and obstructing governmental administration. Yaguchi’s lawyer Eric Franz said his client “adamantly maintains his innocence.”

The advocacy group, Japanese in America, has been supporting Yaguchi through his trial, and believes the shamed captain is being victimized by the Bronx DA’s office.

“It seems kind of ridiculous that they’re micromanaging how people do their jobs,” said member Cynthia Okimoto at Bronx Supreme Court. “It’s scapegoating. It’s very obvious that that’s what’s happening here. You can’t pin it on someone because you think that they’re weak.”

Under cross-examination Tuesday, Lt. Jose Batista testified that he believed Medina was under the influence in the 2017 crash, and notified Yaguchi, the captain on-duty. Batista testified Yaguchi did not tell him to delay the off-duty detective’s sobriety test.

NYPD Captains Endowment Association President Roy Richter called the District Attorney’s prosecution “disgraceful” and “malicious” Tuesday.

“Their indictment is so random that it should send chills through every precinct commander in New York,” Richter said.